Stellar box office for ‘Streetcar’

Tony noms boost Broadway sales

The overall Broadway cume remained nearly flat in Week 50 (May 7-13), but that didn’t mean there weren’t some changes in the status quo, with Tony-nommed plays and tuners continuing to percolate, and a bit of jostling at the top of the chart.

The week’s biggest bump was posted at “A Streetcar Named Desire” ($446,069), up 24% or about $87,000, the largest upswing of any show on the boards.

Habitual top dog “Wicked” ($1,579,314) found itself in the No. 3 slot, behind “The Lion King” ($1,717,281) and premium-ticket champ “The Book of Mormon” ($1,598,593). The game of musical chairs likely is due more to increasingly savvy pricing tactics that help all top shows maximize profits than it is an indication of a long-term trend.

In terms of overall numbers, Broadway posted figures that were almost exactly the same as those from the prior sesh. Sales came in at $25.2 million, essentially on par with the previous week. Attendance was down by a negligible 85 theatergoers (you know who you are).

The 24 musicals grossed $19,322,871 for 76.5% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 205,160 and an average paid admission of $94.18.

The 14 plays grossed $5,922,100 for 23.5% of the Broadway total, with attendance of 74,852 and an average paid admission of $79.12.